Spiraling German Cybercrime Cost €90 Million

The Internet is the new bogeyman in Germany and maybe with good reason. Recorded internet crime rose 19% last year which police say cost at least €90 million.

A staggering 85% of all Internet users in Germany are worried about online crime, up from a high of 75% in 2010.

In particular, cyber criminals are after credit card and bank data, and the rise of social networks and smartphones is making it easier for them. This is according to an article today in the German daily Die Welt.

“The trend is clearly spying on personal data and passwords,” said Dieter Kempf, president of Bitkom, which bills itself as “the voice” of IT, telco and new media industry in Europe’s largest economy.

The weakest link, according to Jörg Ziercke, president of the German Federal Office of Criminal Investigations, is smartphones, which he says are particularly vulnerable.

Of the nearly 60,000 cyber crimes that occurred last year, some 27,000 were computer scams like phishing for online banking data. The average total loss per case: €4000.

Add a Comment

About Tech Europe

Tech Europe covers Europe’s technology leaders, their companies, and the people and industries that support them — and their ideas. The blog is edited by Ben Rooney, with contributions from The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires.